Category: Rules of Golf

A friend recently sent me a set of Temporary Rules apparently instituted by the Richmond Golf Club just outside London England in 1940. These rules were put in placed to deal with member safety during the German bombing raids and the resulting havoc they wreaked on the golf course.

My naturally inquisitive nature led me to see if these rules were authentic or if they were just another ‘urban myth’.

Findings

There is indeed a Richmond Golf Club in Surrey, UK

Thislink will take you to their website. The ‘temporary rules’ can be found under the History section on the site. It mentions that these rules were referred to by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister during a wartime broadcast and includes this excerpt:

By means of these ridiculous reforms the English snobs try to impress the people with a kind of pretended heroism. They can do so without danger, because, as everyone knows, the German Air Force devotes itself only to the destruction of military targets and objectives of importance to the war effort.”

It makes you realize:

1 The conditions were play under are pretty benign; and

2. the Brits were sticklers for rules, I mean, one stroke penalty if your stroke is affected by the simultaneous explosion of a bomb. Really?

Addendum (November 24, 2015)

I had also emailed the Richmond Golf Club regarding the ‘temporary rules’ and this morning I got the following reply:

Dear Menno,

Many thanks for your enquiry re the ‘wartime rules’ associated with this Club. They are indeed genuine and are displayed in our Member’s Bar for all to see, apparently Lord Haw Haw himself referred to the ‘Englishmen’ and Rules personally in one of his infamous broadcasts.